Image credit: eBook store by Sony
ISBN Number: 078656671X
Published by Berkley Books
Robin Cook is widely known for medical thrillers. I have to say he reaches far out from his usual with Abduction. Abduction is a novel based on fantasy, horror and suspense. Like with all of Robin’s books, Abduction is chocked full of twists and turns. I never would have guessed where this book was doing to take me.
Abduction takes the reader on a journey into the unknown. The book starts out with Perry Bergman, the owner of the drill ship, the ‘Benthic Explorer,’ who is scheduled to ride along on an undersea work detail, via his mini-submarine, or take samples of the bottom of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The workmen on the ‘Benthic Explorer’ were ruining drill bits right and left. It was important to get some samples of the ridge to understand why they were unable to drill.
Perry Bergman is supposed to go down to the ridge with the crew of the mini-sub, but he is really scared something bad will happen. He is too embarrassed to just come out and say he doesn’t want to go. He tries to beg off going by saying he doesn’t want to be in the way. He continues to ineffectively beg off by saying he should stay topside because they are the professionals and he is just the owner. None of his excuses for not going are excepted and he goes along with the crew, while scared to death that the sub will be crushed like a tin can.
The researchers go down in the sub and two deep sea divers go down in a diving bell. Actually, three divers go down in the bell, but one person stays with the bell to maintain life support for the two divers that leave the bell. All the time I am reading I am so scared that something bad is going to happen. It’s like a movie playing in my head, but even better, because this book becomes my reality. I am with them in the sub. I am also with them in the diving bell. I am with them when the divers leave the bell and suddenly get into harm’s way. As the reader I experienced every emotion I am capable of having.
I observed (by reading) what reproduction is like in this alien world. I experienced that making love was accomplished by pressing palms together. They have a special kind of hand cream that when applied to the palms and the palms are pressed together, the sensation is orgasmic. I also observed how immortality is accomplished in this hidden world under the sea.
I’m not sure how it is for other readers, but for me, I don’t just read a book. I experience it. Robin Cook stimulates all of your five senses and two more which are your sense of sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, time, and space. Robin takes the reader into the abyss and into the unknown.
I’m not going into details about what the book is really about because I don’t want to ruin it for the reader. However, I will say when you think you know what is happening, you find out that you really don’t. You, as the reader learn what it is like to live among an alien people. You learn that the civilization in which you are from is as backward as the Neanderthals are to us. You observe what it is like to live in a peaceful place that is as close to heaven as heaven can be, yet as human beings from our world, we long for the dysfunction and strife that we are accustomed to. So much tension is generated from mistrust from the explorers, because the world they find themselves is totally artificial.
The humans in this ‘other’ world under the sea are called ‘First generation humans’ and the explorers are called ‘second generation humans.’ The undersea world is utopia and that is a source of tension for the second generation humans. They discover that they can never leave this world under the sea, but if you know what it is like to be an independent human from our world, you know that you will not stand for being held somewhere, not even in heaven, against your will.
This is all I will say about Abduction. You will need to experience it for yourself to see what happens. I’m so happy that I took this ‘ride’ to another world with Robin Cook. I hope that you will have a similar experience if and when you read the book. Reading is so much better than watching a movie. When I read, it’s like I have memories of all the experiences and observations I had while reading.
